Past and Present
June 10, 2011 (Friday)
The words of a popular song in 1941:
“Hut-Sut Rawlson on the Rillerah
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the Rillerah
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the Rillerah
Hut-Sut Rawlson on the Rillerah, add a brawla sooit.”
This song was recorded by many well-known bands and artists.
Whenever I get to complaining about the lyrics of modern songs, I try to remember songs like this, and there were several like it. Thinking about the silly lyrics of days gone by, I come to realize we (previous generations) were not perfect, and I become a little more tolerant of today’s words.
Every generation “does its thing.” Popular words fade into history, and a new generation does not recognize them. Think about the scene from “The Music Man,” set in July, 1912, in which the con artist, Professor Harold Hill, makes his pitch to a gullible crowd with the song, “Ya Got Trouble.” The song includes words like “three-rail,” “balkline,” “boob” (the old meaning), ” pinch-back suit,” “out-of-town Jasper,” “Dan Patch,” “frittern (frittering),” “knickerbockers,” “Bevo (no, not the UT mascot),” “cubeb,” “Tailor Mades,” “Sen-Sen,” “Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang.” Unless you are as old as I or older, you probably don’t recognize many of those words, except for hearing them when the musical is performed. For the most part, they are tied to a long-gone period of history. New generations develop their own vocabularies (and their own silly songs).
Farewell to the old novelty songs: “The Music Goes ‘Round and Round’,” “Mairzy Doats,” “Hut Sut Song,” “Open the Door Richard,” “Caldonia,” “Aba Daba Honeymoon,” “Three Little Fishes,” “Flat Foot Floogie (With a Floy Floy),” “Wild One,” “Swingin’ School,” “Kissin’ Time” and “We Go Together (from ‘Grease’).”
Welcome to today’s silly songs…hmm..er..uh..do they still write silly songs? Come to think of it, we could probably use a few silly songs these days.